It's Not Over Yet
by mockingjay8
Summary: The peace in Panem quickly fades as the Hunger Games return. 15 year old Lora, daughter of the star-crossed lovers, is thrown into the Hunger Games with Gale's son, Alex! Will her and alex fall in love or will they end up killing each other in the arena? Read and find out!
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first Fanfiction so i'm sorry if the chapters are short or its not that good. Oh and there might be a few mistakes, I went back and fixed most of them though. So enjoy this chapter and please, please, please review!**

I wake up to the sound of my mother's voice. My mother, the famous Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, mocking jay or whatever you want to call her.

"Lora, come downstairs, right now!" she half yells.

"Coming." I say with a sigh. I walk downstairs to see her, my dad, (Of course it would only be Peeta Mellark, the boy with the bread) and Haymitch standing in front of the TV.

"Come here." My dad says. I go over there to see what they're all worked up over. What I see on TV is something I never even thought could be possible: The hunger Games are back.

On the screen President Rain is saying, "Attention citizens of Panem, due to the districts coming out of line, we need to re-enforce the rules to let everyone know that the capital is in charge, therefore we are bringing back the Hunger Games! The reaping's for each district will be held in exactly one week. Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favor!"

What the hell just happened? I feel like crying so I do the only thing I can think of at the time, I go to the woods.

"Lora!" I hear my parents and Haymitch call, but they stop after they realize that I just need some alone time.

I run straight to the woods and sit on me and jacks rock. Jack is my best friend; he and I always hunt together. We've been best friends since we were three.

I sit there for a while just thinking with tears silently falling down my face, when Jack comes and sits next to me.

"So you heard the news too." He says, he sounds sad probably figuring that we both have a big risk of going into the games. Me because of my parents and him because he's my best friend and I'm sure the capital people know that somehow. Anyway, I nod my head.

"I'm gonna be the one sent in there, they are gonna rig it so that I'm the girl tribute." I say my voice trembling.

"That's what I was thinking." He says. We sit in silence for a while until I get up.

"We should get going our parents are probably worried about us." I say, after all it was almost sunset.

When I get home I find my dinner on the kitchen counter, chicken and mashed potatoes. I'm not too hungry though. I ignore the food and walk into the living room to find my mom and dad talking quietly.

"I'm going in the arena aren't I?" I ask interrupting them from their conversation.

"No you are not going into that arena; I won't let them take you." My mom says. I can see that she is holding back tears. My dad just slowly shakes his head at my mom's response.

"Why don't you have a seat." My dad says. I nod and go over to sit next to my mom. "We are going to start training you today." He says.

"On how to use a bow?" I ask.

"Yes and other things we can show you like camouflage and how to use knives and spears, maybe even show you what plants are edible and what aren't." He replies.

An few hours later I'm in the woods with my mom shooting a bow and arrow. She taught me before and I was pretty could at it, but I guess I could use some more practice. I inherited most of parent's skills, I'm great with a bow and arrow, I can cook, and I can Paint. I inherited my mom's looks, Brown hair, same figure and facial features except for my eyes which are a striking blue, like my dad's.

Throughout the week I'm learning everything I possibly can to survive the arena. Almost 12 hours each day, how ironic would it be if I didn't get reaped? I laugh at that, of course I'm going to get reaped, how entertaining would it be to watch the star-crossed lover's daughter fight for her death? The Capital is full of cruel, mean people.


	2. Chapter 2

**Here is chapter 2! Dont forget to review and if anything needs to be fixed just let me know. **

It's the day of the reaping and I'm walking over to the town square with my other best friend, charlotte. We are having small conversations about things that aren't important probably because we are both nervous, me more so than her. After a few minutes of comfortable silence I tell her,

"You know, it's gonna be me who goes into the arena."

"You don't know that for sure." Is her only response.

"Really, charlotte, really? I'm the only child of the star-crossed lovers, the rebellion leaders, the mocking jay, the girl on fire. The people who got rid of the Hunger Games! Why wouldn't they send me into the arena?" I say maybe a bit too loud because people start to stare at us as we walk by.

"Let's just not think about that right now. I don't want to even think about having my best friend go into the Hunger games."

Charlotte and I get to the square and head over to the 15 year old section. We talk to our other friends until Effie pops onto stage. She looks exactly like the drawing in my parent's book. My parents showed me the book yesterday; it had drawings or pictures of everyone that ever helped my parents in some way along with descriptions of them. I got to hand it to my dad at how well he drew the people in it, Effie looks exactly like she did in the book.

She starts by saying some boring speech, blah, and blah, blah. Then there is a short video sent from the capital. I'm not paying attention to anything, so when I hear my name I wonder what is going on. Then I realize that my name was called from Effie and that I just got picked to go into the Hunger Games.

I make my face go absolutely emotionless, I don't want others to think I'm scared or a psycho killer so I stick with emotionless. My friends give me quick hugs as I walk towards the stage in the center of the town square.

My mom and dad sit off to one side since they will be mentoring me. They knew I was going to be picked, but still look like they are in a state of shock. I see my mom tearing up a bit, grabbing hold of my dad's hand.

"Time for the boys!" Effie announces. She reaches her hand into the bowl, picks up a slip and reads the name, "Alex Hawthorne!"

Oh my god! That's Gale's son! My mom told me all about her relationship with Gale. I don't like him that much from her stories, I don't know why, I just don't. He works at a construction site and I see him around but we never talk and neither do him and my parents. Although, I can tell my mom keeps trying to say something to him but doesn't have the nerve.

I see his son, Alex in school. He is in my history class where we learn about the Hunger Games and rebellion. I've never talked to him before, but I guess I should get to know him a little bit, before one of us dies.

I snap out of my thoughts and look over at the 15 year old boy section, where Alex walks from. He gets up on stage and we shake hands, both staring into each other's eyes. I try to keep my eyes emotionless while his eyes seem to be sympathetic. And gorgeous! His eyes are the prettiest blue I have ever seen! How come I've never really noticed him before, he is pretty hot! In my mind I yell at myself for thinking that, I'm going to be killing him in the arena, I can't think of how pretty his eyes are.

Effie leads us over to the justice building and leads us in to separate rooms. The room I'm put in is nice; they redid most of district 12 since it was destroyed in a bombing during the rebellion. A lot of my friends come in saying the same things; goodbye, good luck, I'll miss you. After they all go I wonder if anyone else will come in.

Well someone does, Gale and his wife Margret. Gale says only one thing, "Keep each other alive as long as you can." Then they leave before the peacekeepers even tell them to. I'm kind of confused by what they mean, because they had some look to their eyes as if there is more to that sentence then the obvious. Oh well maybe they just want their son to come home and figure we would work stronger as allies.

No one else comes after them because have no more family here in district 12 besides Haymitch and my parents but my parents will be mentoring me so I will see them on the train. I wonder though why Haymitch hasn't come to see me. He is practically my uncle.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3! REVIEW! You don't know how important reviews are to me!**

Peacekeepers escort me out of the justice building and towards the train station. I hop onto the train to find my parents, Effie, Alex and even Haymitch spread out across two sofas. That's why Haymitch didn't come to see me because he is right here, is gonna be a third mentor or something? Right as my parents see me they run up to me and hug me extremely tight, so tight I can't breathe. They put me down after a minute and sit back down. It's quiet for a few minutes until Effie offers to show us to our rooms. Alex and I follow her into another section of the train. There are five doors, she points to a door on her left and says, "Lora, that room with be yours, take a look in it." Then points to a door across from mine and says, "Alex that room with be yours." We both peek into our rooms.

I walk in and check it out, it is really nice but it seems odd to put us in nice room's right before sending us to our deaths. Capital people are seriously messed up with everything they do.

I sit on the bed and smile, this is so comfy! The sheets are silk and are the softest things I have ever felt. Not before long I drift off to sleep.

I'm wakened by a knocking on my door.

"It's time for dinner!" Someone yells, it has got to be Effie, no one else is that happy.

"Coming!" I yell back. I get out of bed and walk into the bathroom where I brush my hair and put in into a quick ponytail.

I walk into the dining section of the train where we first arrived in and there is so many food selections all lined up on a buffet table. I have never seen so much food in my life! I stop myself from running over there and shoving everything in my mouth, it just looks so good! I slowly walk over to where Effie and Alex stand. I start to grab my food and say "Hey."

"Hello there sleepy head!" Effie says in her perky voice. Her voice can defiantly be annoying at times.

"Hey." Alex says back in a causal tone.

We all grab our food and sit down just as my parents walk into the room. I sit down across from Alex and in a few moments my parents sit to my left with Effie sitting at the head of the table to my right. Everyone digs into the food except Effie who probably has food like this every day.

I wonder where Haymitch is, probably hung-over in his room. He drinks _way_ too much. Anyways I wanted to ask him why he was here.

"Why is Haymitch here?" I ask, "I only thought mentors and well Effie were supposed to come with us."

"Yah, I was wondering why he was here too." Alex says.

"There was a rule change allowing there to be three mentors." Mom said.

"Oh" I say back.

"What's our plan for today?" Alex asks changing the subject.

"Well it's already 6:30pm so I figured all you guys need to do is watch the other district's reaping's." Dad replies.

"Aww, I thought we were gonna start training, you know a little knife throwing here some bow and arrows over there." Alex says. Geez Alex why would you want to start training, I think. I want to relax, well as much as I can anyways.

After we all finish eating we head over to a room with some couches and a huge TV. Effie hits some buttons on a remote and then the reaping for district one pops on screen. The tributes for district one are strong looking and both have blond hair and blue eyes. The guy's name is Michael, he is 17 and the girls name is Tara, she is 16. All the careers pretty much look the same and I completely ignore all of the other tributes names because I forget them and end up calling them district number boy or district number girl. Although, I can remember the names of the tributes from 1 and 7.

District 7's boy, Tommy, is only 12 and is extremely skinny and has a bunch of bruises and cuts all over him. He is probably abused, poor little guy. I'll make sure to help in the arena, I feel really bad for him. The girl is named Alisa; she is 15, my age and looks really strong but friendly. I decide that the 2 tributes from district 7 will be my allies; they are the only ones I like. I think I'll ally with Alex too but first I should see what everyone is like at the training grounds.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry it took me sooo long to update, I was kind of debating on wether to countinue the story or not since I dont think many people are reading it but I decided to keep going. So here is chapter 4. **

After watching the reapings everyone went back to their rooms. I quickly take a shower, well I hoped to take a quick shower but it ended up taking me like 10 minutes just to get the water at the right temperature. Then another 10 minutes to get the right shampoo and conditioner and body wash. When I finished it was about 9:30. It took me an hour to take a shower! I figured I should go to bed and get a lot of sleep so I'll be well for the day in the capital tomorrow. I got into bed wearing the softest flannel pants and a t-shirt. After about an hour of staring at the ceiling I realized that I wasn't going to fall asleep any time soon, so I decided to walk around.

I went into the room with the TV and found Alex sitting down on the couch watching some old Hunger Game. On the screen was the number 75th in the corner I'm guessing that it was the last Hunger game before the rebellion. I sit down next to him.

"Couldn't sleep?" He asks.

"Nope, you either?" I say.

"I couldn't stop thinking about the games, I know that I don't have a good chance of making it and I don't think I could ever kill anyone, so how will I even win?" He says back.

"Yah, my mom and my dad have been training me on how to survive the Hunger Games, but shooting rabbits and squirrels with a bow and arrow is a lot different then shooting people with one." I reply.

"Yah." Is all he says. I think he's tired, even though he can't sleep. We both start to watch the Hunger Games playing on Tv and then it clicks that the 75th Hunger Games was the one my mom and dad were in! They told me about their games but never showed me them. This is going to be interesting I think, a devilish smile crossing my face.

I guess have fallen asleep towards the end of the games because the last thing I remember is my mom and a girl named Johanna running a string down to the water. After I wake out of my daze I realize I 'm in my bed, I was on the couch before right? Who brought me here, was it Alex? Hmmm now I'm curious, oh well that's not the most important thing on my mind right now. Today is the day we get to the capital! Yay! Not.

I get out of bed and put on some clothes from the bureau. It's a pink t-shirt and some yoga pants. I walk into the dining room to find everyone sitting eating breakfast. I grab the only seat available, the one next to Haymitch and Alex. I begin taking food from the middle of the table when Effie starts talking.

"Okay so we will be arriving in the capital in a few moments!" She says.

"What do we do once we get there?" Alex asks. I'm wondering the same thing.

"Well you two will be meeting your stylists and then they will give you a complete make-over and after that you will be on the chariot ride!" Effie replies.

"Yippee." I say sarcastically.

"We should start thinking about thi8nking about your approach towards the capital people, for intense you could be all nice and sweet or shy or mysterious, whatever you guys want." Dad says.

"Can't we just be ourselves?" I ask.

"Well, being yourself won't get you sponsors." Alex says with a smirk on his face. Before I can say anything back to him my dad speaks.

"Actually he's right. Capital citizens want some kind of entertainment, they don't just want your normal everyday people, they want someone different, someone exciting, someone who makes them entertained. After all the Hunger Games are just entertainment to them."

"Oh well I could be nice and sweet, cus you know that is pretty much my personality." I say being over dramatic.

"Haha maybe your approach could be humor?" Alex says jokingly acting like we've been best friends for years.

"Very funny Alex, that wouldn't be a bad approach for you either." I say still kidding around with him.

"Stay focused you two," My mom says, "This is serious, you need to win over the capital people and me and your father were thinking that you could both act like your in love like me and your father did. It doesn't have to be real of course but it seemed to work for us didn't it?"

"Seriously mom? Just because it worked out for you guys doesn't mean it will work for us," I say, this conversation is getting a bit awkward so I decide to through in some of my _fabulous _humor, "Besides I'm not that good of an actor."

"I think it's a great idea, maybe if we're lucky we could both come out alive like your parents did." Alex says smiling. Then my dad leans in closer towards me and Alex.

"I can't say much but stay till day 4 at least, trust me." He says in a whisper so low im not sure if I heard him right. Are they planning on getting us out of the arena? He gives me a knowing look like he can read my mind.

If it's what I'm thinking then Alex and I will be coming out of the arena. It makes sense, the look on Alex's parents face after saying to try and keep each other alive as long as we can and the fact that my parents aren't _as_ worried as I thought they'd be. Well, I hope there plan works out I really don't want to die and I don't want Alex to die either.

**If you read this story then can you please review! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay so in this chapter Lora and Alex get to the capital and get ready for the chariot ride which will be next chapter. Also I made Cianna the stylists..so um the capital brought him back to life I guess! Don't forget to review!**

There is a loud screeching sound, which means we have arrived at the capital's train station.

"Ooh, we're here everyone! Come on grab your stuff!" Effie squeals in delight.

"Uhhhhh." I whine as I go to my room to grab my belongings, which consist of my clothes I wore at the reaping and….. That's it I guess. I don't have a bag and I don't think the clothes will be any use to me if I'm in the arena so I think I'll just give them to my mom.

I walk into my parent's bed room to give my mom the clothes. I put them into a bag that's lying on the bed assuming its one of my parents. I'm about to walk out of the room when my mom comes out from the bathroom.

"Lora come here." She says. I walk over to her and she pulls something out of her pocket. It is a small pin with a mockingjay on it. I've learned about the symbol in school and my mom told me about how her friend Madge gave to her and how she kept it through her games and the rebellion. To me it seemed like a very special thing and I guess to her it was too.

She takes my hand and puts the pin in it and folds my fingers around it. I look up at her to see tears welled up in her eyes.

"Your token, I thought it would be good for a token. It's been with me throughout my games and hopefully yours too." She says crying a bit now.

"Thank you." I whisper as I throw my arms around her and squeeze her tight. She puts her arms around me too and starts crying with her head on my shoulder. I decide that I don't need to be strong in front of her, that if she cries then it's okay for me to as well, so I just let the tears fall. A few seconds later my dad comes into the room from the hall and joins our hug without saying anything.

Effie yells from the hall, "Hurry up in there, the reporters outside are getting anxious."

We break free of are little group hug and my parents grab their bags and we leave the room.

When we step off the train there are so many people standing there just waiting for us. I try pushing past them to get to the justice building where I figured Effie, Alex, and Haymitch went. They wouldn't let us by because they kept trying to get pictures and asking questions, I just smiled as we slowly made our way towards the justice building. When we got there Effie, Alex, and Haymitch were standing at the top of the steps of the justice building ushering us over.

We went over to them and then we had to pose for a bunch of pictures. After about 10 minutes of pictures my cheeks started to hurt but thankfully Effie led us inside telling the reporters that that was enough pictures for now.

We went over to the desk and Effie asked the clerk lady, "Excuse me, but where is the car for district 12 tributes?"

"Why don't you follow me?" The clerk lady answered back. She led us to what I assume is the back entrance where there were 12 cars waiting. Our car was all the way to the end. As we were walking past the other cars I tried to get a look at the other tributes but most of them were already in their car and the windows were tinted so you couldn't see inside them.

We finally got to our car and hopped in. It was a large car, with two front seats, two middle seats, and three back seats. Effie sat in the front passenger seat next to our driver and mom and dad sat in the middle, so I had to sit in the middle of Alex and Haymitch. Thank god Haymitch didn't smell like alcohol, actually he seemed pretty sober the whole trip, good for him I thought.

We got to the hotel/training center about a half hour later. We went straight to the elevators. We must have been either the first ones here or the last because I didn't see any other tributes or mentors. It was quiet the whole ride up to the 12th floor. The elevator opened into a large dining room/living room.

"Let me show you all to your rooms!" Effie said. We followed her into a hall and she started pointing at rooms.

"Peeta and Katniss that room is yours as always." She says while my mom and dad go into that room.

"Haymitch that room will be yours." She says and points to a door across from my parents.

Then she points to me and Alex's rooms which are across from each other. There are still two other doors in the hall, one must be Effie's but I don't know what the other one is for.

I go into my room, which by the way is absolutely beautiful with a view over the capital which is actually breath taking. I figure we will be meeting our stylists soon so I walk over to the living room and plop myself down on a couch while I wait till Effie drags out the others.

A few minutes later Effie comes into the room with all the others.

"There you are she says to me. Come on we are going to meet your stylists." She says.

I get up from the couch and walk over to the door with everyone else. We go back down the elevator and into what I think is a restaurant. We help ourselves over to a table with a group already there, our stylists.

There are 3 people who include of my prep team and 1 main stylist. I already know my team since they were my moms and sometimes visited us. Effie tells me to sit down next to them so I do.

I shake their hands anyways as Effie says to do and give them a big smile. We talk about how we have all been and the plans for later; my prep team will give me a makeover, then Cianna will touch up my hair and make-up and present to me my dress and after that will be the chariot ride. After lunch Alex and I are led to the district 12 'beatifying room' as Cianna and Portia call it. My prep team leads me over to a curtained off area. They do the same to Alex and I watch him mouth the words, "Good luck." I mouth back, "You too." We both heard in school that they rip all your body hair off! Ouch!

They lay me on a table and start waxing my body- my _whole_ body. And let me tell you one thing, it hurt a lot. When that was over they started on my hair, first they washed it with peach smelling shampoo and then they blew it dry with some fancy blow drying thing. Then they styled it into a complicated braided up-do. After all that they put on make-up.

"You look so much like your mother." Octavia says with tears in her eyes.

"Yes, exactly like her when she was getting prepped for her hunger games." Portia says will a smile.

All three just stare at me with huge smiles on their faces until Cianna walks in.

"Beautiful." He says to me. "I'll take it from here." My prep team leads the room and he grabs a black bag from a table.

"Ready to see your dress?" He asks

"Yesss!" I exclaim. He opens the bag and my mouth drops to the floor.

**If you have any ideas or anything just PM me or Review! **


	6. Chapter 6

**The last part of this chapter will be in Alex's point of view. And please review! I didn't get any reviews last chapter! So I'm not gonna update until I have 10 reviews! Enjoy my darlings!**

Inside the bag is a black dress with beads at the bottom. The beads start off orange then as they work their way up to the middle off the dress they turn red. The colors of the beads seem to flicker and change slightly like a real fire. Not only are the beads beautiful but the upper part of the dress is too, its black with mesh straps so it kind of looks strapless except for the mesh that covers from my neck to my breasts. He turns the dress around and there is a gaping hole on the back which makes the dress looks even more unique.

"You like it?" Cianna asks.

"Of course! I love it!" I say with excitement. I can't wait to try it on!

"Well why don't you try it on." Cianna says as if reading my mind.

I grab the dress from him and slip off my robe and put it on over my head. I have Cianna zip it up then I walk over to the full body mirror. I don't want to sound conceited, but the dress looks even better on me then it did on the hanger.

"It amazing. Thank you so much Cianna!" I run over and give him a big hug. He seems surprised at my hug but hugs me back and says, "Your welcome darling."

"Now, we can't forget shoes, can we?" Cianna says as he pulls out a pair of black heels that have red and orange beads on the skinny heel of the shoe.

"They are just as beautiful as the dress." I say

Then he leads me over to a door which I'm guessing leads out to where the chariots are waiting, we walk over to district 12's chariot and my mom and dad start saying how beautiful I look.

"Ohh… You look so pretty. It's just missing one thing." Mom says as she pins the Mockingjay pin just above my heart and then pulls me into a hug. (I left it at the hotel room so she must have grabbed it before we left)

"Thank you mom." I whisper to her.

"Just like your mom looked back in our chariot ride." Dad says while smiling back at the memory.

"Thank you." I say as I blush. I hear my mom tell Cianna what a good job he has done and I hear him say Thank you and they hug. My dad and Effie help me onto the chariot where Alex stands. His outfit is similar to mine except it's a tuxedo and his tie has beads on it and so does the bottom part of his pants, the rest is all black. He looks absolutely amazing in it. The black makes him look really tan and his prep team have made his brown hair look messy but in an extremely attractive way.

**Alex point of view**

I watch as Lora climbs onto the chariot, she looks stunning. The dress fits her perfectly and she just looks gorgeous. I can't seem to take my eyes off of her.

"You look beautiful." I manage to say.

"Thank you." She says, I notice her blush and smile at that. "You look very handsome." She says that with a huge smile.

"Alright you two listen up." Haymitch says. "You have to wave and blow kisses to the crowd and put on the biggest smile you can. Hold hands too, okay?"

"Ok." Me and Lora both say.

I didn't even notice that all the other chariots have left until I hear an announcer say, "Now, district 12!" And just like that we're off. We exit the room where the chariots were held and enter a large path with capital citizens on each side. I hear the capital people cheer and call our names really loud.

I grab Lora's hand and look up at her to see she's smiling at me. Without thinking I kiss her. She's shocked at first, almost as shocked as I am but then our lips almost melt into each other's. I break away from the kiss and pull my hand away kind of nervously even though I'm craving for more. There is a look of confusion on her face but she quickly recovers and turns away and waves to the crowd then she grabs my free hand with her free hand. We put our entwined hands up over our heads and the crowd goes wild with applaud. I am liking all this attention I think to myself. They love us!

But too quickly it's over and all the chariots are lined up facing President Rain.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give to you the tributes of the 76th Hunger games! And may the odds be _ever_ in their favor" The crowd starts clapping and screaming.

"Alright, alright settle down now. Some of you may be wondering why the Hunger Games have made a re-appearance, well that is for me to know and you to wonder about, it's as simple as that. With that said, give a round of applause for the tributes of the 76th Hunger Games!"

I really wonder how he got voted for president, I mean seriously even I could make a better speech then that and I almost failed English class.

I'm forced out of my thoughts when Lora lets go of my hand and jumps off the chariot. I jump off after her.

"You guys did great!" Effie says.

"My beautiful little girl!" Katniss tells Lora. Then I see Lora hold her mom's shoulders an arms width away and say, "Mom I'm not little anymore, I'm fifteen, practically sixteen, Okay?"

"Okay sweetie." She says then pulls Lora back into a hug.

Peeta comes over to me, "Real or not real?"

I'm kind of confused by what he means but then I realize he's talking about if the kiss I gave Lora was an act for the capital or if it was real.

"Real." I decide.


	7. Chapter 7

**OK, I know I said I won't post until I get 10 reviews but I couldn't leave the few people that actually read this hanging. So here is chapter 7 it's all about Lora and Alex! Please review! I hope to have at least 10 reviews by next chapter! This chapter is in Alex's POV I might do Katniss or Peeta's POV next but I'm not sure.**

**Alex pov**

"Good." Peeta says and pats me on the back. That was not the response I expected from him at all. Oh well. What will Lora think though? Will she be mad me? But when I let go of our hands she grabbed mine back so did that mean anything? I'm so confused I'm gonna have to talk to her later. All the adrenalin gave me a rush, giving me the nerve to kiss her, I still can't believe I did that though. But wow was it a good kiss I wonder if she has ever kissed someone before? Maybe she did but with who?

"Alright everyone, follow me back to the rooms." Effie says. I go follow her along with everyone else, and I try to stay away from Lora because I don't know what to say to her. I'll have to talk to her sooner or later though. She just makes me so nervous! And that's a first for me cus I'm never, I mean never nervous.

The ride up the elevator couldn't have last longer, with Effie blabbing on about stupid stuff like her wig and all. I kept glancing over at Lora and every time I do I see her staring right back at me but then turns her head like she doesn't want me to know she was looking at me.

We get off our private elevator at our floor and we all walk into the dining room.

"Dinner will be ready soon Lora, so go wash up." Katniss tells Lora.

"You too." She says as she points at me. Wash up? Like as in take a shower or like go wash your hands? But when I hear shushed whispers coming from the dining room I realized that, 'Go wash up' was code for 'The adults need to talk alone'. Makes sense. Yah I'm not the brightness person….

I walk into my room but right as I'm about to turn the door knob I turn around. Now would be a good time to talk to Lora, with the adults talking and all.

I am about to knock on Lora's door but she opens it while my hand is in the air.

"Oh...I was...um just looking for you." She says.

"Oh well here I am." I say trying to gather up my confidence. God! I am such an idiot!

"Come in." She says and gesture towards her room. I sit down on a couch with two seats, a loveseat they call it here in the capital. She sits down next to me sitting criss-cross apple sauce facing me. She grabs a pillow and pulls it onto her lap.

"So..." She says looking down.

"So..?" I ask.

"Alright I'm just gonna say it, did that kiss mean anything to you?" She asks looking up into my eyes.

I look up to her and into her eyes, there is no way I can lie to this girl.

"Yah, I'm sorry I shouldn't have done it I just...just don't know what came over me. I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry, I never said I didn't like it, did I?" She says with a smile on her face.

"Oh god you don't know how worried I was that you'd never talk to me again."

"Of course I would have talked to you it was just a kiss."

"Okay that makes me feel a lot better now." I say looking into her eyes, the piercing blue eyes staring back at mine. She leans in….that means she wants to kiss me! I lean in too and as soon as our lips touch someone comes through the door.

"Oh god." Effie squeals and then calms done after a second. "Geez, do you guys want any dinner?"

"Nah we're not hungry." I say speaking for the both of us.

"Suit your selves." She says leaving the room; I hear her muttering something under her breath about manners.

As soon as she shuts the door me and Lora burst out laughing.

"Did you see the look on her face!" I say mimicking her face; this just makes Lora laugh even harder.

"No, no it was all like this." Lora does an even better imitation of Effie which makes me laugh even harder.

"So want to watch a movie?" I ask after we calm done from our laughing fit.

"Sure." She says as she lies done on her stomachache on my bed facing the TV.

"Well excuse me." I say climbing over her to lie down on the other side.

We pick a Movie on the rebellion. After about five minutes I ask, "Want to order some popcorn and stuff."

"Yah I'm getting hungry." She replies.

I get up and walk over to the ordering machine we have on the wall. You just tell it what you want and it pops it through a little compartment, pretty cool if you ask me.

"Cola or Pepsi?" I ask Lora.

"Cola." She replies.

"Two Colas, two popcorns, one m&m, and one gummy worm packet." I tell the machine. I grab a tray from a small cupboard next to it and place the food on it. I put it on the bed in front of me and Lora and lay down.

When the movie is done I get up to go and Lora gets up too, to walk me to the door I guess.

"Goodnight." She says and kisses me on the cheek.

"N-night." I stutter. She just kissed me again! It was on the cheek but who cares that's like the third one today if you count the one Effie barged in on.

I walk back to my room. Thankfully no one else was in the hall. When I get there I take a shower and get to bed. I find sleep fast, thinking about Lora.

**REVIEW!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Interview will be next chapter and sorry if the interviews are supposed to come after training, I'm not sure so I just did the interview first. So this is chapter 8, Interviews will be chapter 9 and training will begin in chapter 10! Enjoy and Review!**

**Peeta's POV (The next day)**

I wake up expecting to find Katniss lying right next to me but she's not there. Then I hear the shower running, that explains that.

I get up and walk my way over to the bathroom door and open it a bit so Katniss can hear me.

"Katniss, darling?"

"Yah?"

"Hurry up I need to take a shower too and Effie told us to be ready by 10:00 for the interviews."

"We have time don't worry." She calls back.

"Katniss honey, its 9:50."

"Oh! Effie gonna kill us, hold on I'll be out in a second." She says.

I walk over to the bureau and shake might head at Katniss, she can over react sometimes. I grab some clothes from it and walk over to the bathroom, while Katniss comes out with a towel wrapped around her.

I head in the bathroom and hop in the shower, I've been in the capital showers quite a few times but I still don't know how to work them well so I settle with luke -warm water and some pine shampoo.

I get out 5 minutes later and step on the drying mat then put on my clothes.

"All ready." I say as I come out of the bathroom in kakis and a button-down shirt.

"Good lets go." It's already 10:05; I'm surprised Effie didn't come barging on the door yet.

We walk into the living room where every else is waiting. Lora and Alex are sitting down on the couch, a little too close for my taste. I don't really mind though Lora should at least have some love before she…. I cut myself off from finishing my thoughts. Peeta, we are going to get them out of the arena, I reassure myself. I still can't help myself from thinking what they were doing yesterday they didn't come to dinner but they could have just been talking or watching and old games.

Everyone gets up and Effie takes the lead. We walk down to lounge room were 'the mentors' will wait and talk while the tributes and their escorts go to the 'beautifying room' as we call it. Katniss and I sit down on a white couch along with Haymitch, who hasn't really spoken much the entire trip.

**Lora's POV**

Effie leads us over to the beautifying room or whatever you want to call it. Since they removed all of the hair on my body just yesterday they said it wouldn't be necessary to do it again, thank god. My prep team started working on my hair which they curled in big waves and then pinned back some strands on one side. They wouldn't let me see in a mirror though so I hoped it looked good. Next they worked on my make-up; they did most of it neutral colors except the eye shadow which was a turquoise blue, probably to make my eyes pop. The eye shadow seemed too much of a bright color, I hope it doesn't look silly b3ecause what I'm picturing looks pretty ugly.

"All set." Flavious said and handed me a hand held mirror. The eye shadow actually looked really good and it did make my eyes pop. My hair too looked really nice, big wavy curls it made my normally boring poop brown hair look shiny and luscious.

The prep team left the room and Cianna came in. He touched up my hair and make-up then presented me with a black dress bag.

"I want you to put in on before you see it." He said. He helped me slide it over my now blind folded head. He adjusted it tying and zippering things.

"Okay you can take off you blind fold." I did as he said and looked at the full body mirror now in front of me.

The dress was a gorgeous red color and it fell shortly above my knees where it was slightly puffed up. It was neat and sharp looking. I turned slightly so I could see the back, which had a plain black zippering running down my back. On the sides of the dress were slim/long wholes that covered my sides, they started below my boobs and ended right above my hips with a black ribbing where it ended. Other than that it was plain but that made it seem more elegant. Overall it was beautiful maybe even better than the other dress for the chariot ride.

I exclaimed to Cianna how beautiful it was then he gave me my shoes to put on which were plain black heels, about 4 inches high! I'm going to stumble on stage! Then he put some jewelry on me. He walked me over to a door and told me where to sit before he walked off somewhere else. I sat down in the second to last seat. I was surprised Alex didn't come out before me since well he doesn't need much work on his hair since it looks good no matter what and he obviously doesn't need make-up or jewelry. As I wait for him to come out I scan the other tributes. The girl from district 7 doesn't look nervous at all-surprising I'm not that nervous either-she notices me looking at her and shoots me a smile, I smile back at her. I look at her district partner; he looks very scared and in looks much weaker and smaller in person. I hate to say it but there is he will probably not make it past the blood bath. I give him a small smile-more like a sad smile- but he doesn't notice.

Alex finally comes out after about 10 minutes wearing another suit that's all black except for a red tie to match my dress. They do that foe very district; the boy wears a plain tux with a tie matching the girl tributes outfit. The tux fits him really nice, he looks extremely hot, he has his hair in that messy look again but it's like that super-cute kind of messy. He sits down next to me his arm brushing my arm as he sits, sending shivers up my spine.

"You look gorgeous." He says.

"Thank you." I say shyly and feel a blush on my cheeks. Some lady comes over and says that the interview are about to start. All the tributes go by quickly. Next thing I know it's my turn.

"Lora Mellark!" I hear the lady call my name. Alex squeezes my hand.

"Good luck." He whispers. I let out a deep breath squeeze his hand, then let go of it and walk onto the stage.

**Sorry if there were any spelling mistake and I think I spelled Flavious wrong…not sure. Anyways make sure to review! **


	9. Chapter 9

**Okay this is really short but I wanted to get up a chapter since its been a few days.. so next chapter will be some chit chat in the hotel and then the training will start! If anybody thinks I should change something than let me know! Constructive criticism is always welcome.**

**Disclaimer: (I don't really know why I need to say this because everyone knows that I'm not Suzanne Collins but people say it so I think I should too) I do not own the Hunger Games! Duh. Enjoy and review! :)**

As soon as I hit the stage the bright lights make my eyes squint. They quickly adjust soon though. I take a seat next to Caesar and look at the crowd, it's huge! This makes me a tinsy bit nervous but I'm sure once I start talking to Caesar my nerves will go away. He extends his hand for me to shake. A shake his hand as he says, "Ahh what a pleasure it is to see another Mellark."

"Well it's a pleasure to see you too, Caesar." I say the little bit of nervousness I had going away.

"So Miss Mellark, tell me, do you think you have what it takes to win the Hunger Games?" Caesar said.

"Mmhh." I say thinking about that. "I defiantly have a chance a winning but then again every tribute has a chance to win so I'm gonna say, No I don't think I will win."

"And why is that?"

"First off, there are many tributes that are stronger and more skilled then me. And second, I can't even think about how I would ever kill anyone."

"Yes, I understand. But how do you feel about all this?"

"Well to tell you the truth I really don't know, I'm not that nervous but I'm defiantly not _excited _to go into the games, I guess I just want to get it all over with."

"You're not alone, that's how most tributes feel. So is there any special someone back home?"

"No…" I think about this for a second, "…techinically not." I say. I know my parents wanted us to play the whole 'I'm in love with you' kind of act but I think I will be all mysterious.

"What do you mean 'technically'?" He asks.

"Hmm…" I say thinking, should I tell them my crush? Nope! Ha I like messing with the capital I just hope they don't like blow me up in the arena or anything, _that _wouldn't be very good. The buzzer should go off any second now so I keep pretending to think so I won't have to tell the audience.

My parents decided that we could come of kind of mysterious since they weren't too sure about the whole love thing it was more of a joke. But that doesn't mean I'm not falling for my district partner.

The audience claps extremely loud screaming my name and some people screaming my parent's name. This one lady screams team Gale and then another lady tackles her and says team Peeta I have no idea what that's about. I admit I do like all this attention people screaming my names throwing roses at me but it's probably just cus I'm the star-crossed lovers daughter. Sometimes I think that people only like me because I'm the daughter of the most famous victors not because of who I am. You'd think the captial would hate me though since my mom and dad did get rid of the Hunger Games… oh well.

I walk off stage as Alex is walking on. As I walk by him I whisper "Good Luck" In his ear.

**Alex Pov**

I get on stage after Lora wishes me good luck. I take a seat next to Caesar and shake his hand.

"So I heard Gale Hawthorne was you father?"

"Yup, he's my father."

"I could tell you look just like him and because when I heard that I would get to interview not one but _two_ tributes with famous parents I was jumping for joy."

"Everyone tells me that I look just like him." I say flashing a big smile.

"So what are your main weapons? Being Gale's son you must know how to use a lot of different weapons huh?"

"You'll just have to find out in the arena, Caesar." I say with a smile on my face.

"I can't wait to see this year's games! We have a Hawthorne _and_ a Mellark! Exciting!" He tells the crowd. "Now you must have a crush on someone?" Caesar asks.

"Well..." I say leaning back in my chair.

"Maybe even your district partner?" Before I can reply back to Caesar the buzzer goes off. It seems like whenever Caesar asks someone who they like the timer goes off before they have a chance to say it, must be planned that way to keep the audience guessing.

I shake Ceaser's hand again and walk off the stage. I walk over to were Lora, Effie and our mentors stand.

**Sorry if its not that great because I didn't re-read it so there could be many spelling mistakes.. I spelled Cesar wrong (thats how you spell it c-e-s-a-r) But i just want to post this I dont feel like going back and changing it :P Im lazy! Review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I am soo sorry this took so long to update I've been really busy but I'm working on chapter 11 right this second so that should be up by tonight or tomorrow….most likely tomorrow. But enjoy and review!**

**Lora POV (A few minutes later when everyone gets back to the hotel/training room)**

We just got in the hotel room, back from the interviews and Effie is already saying its dinner time. After dinner we will watch the interviews.

We all sit down for dinner and capital assistants (there are no more Avoxes) serve us with an appetizer, a small salad with grilled chicken on top. It's really good especially the chicken and dressing.

"After we have dessert we will all watch the interviews." Effie announces.

"I think I'll pass." Haymitch says, he hasn't said much this entire trip but I think that is because my parents aren't letting him drink any more alcohol while he is here and he is not happy about it. I wouldn't be surprised if he snuck some in his room.

Effie gives him a glare but just says, "Fine." Knowing she can't control what Haymitch does.

After we eat our main course (steak, mashed potatoes, and green beans) and dessert (Chocolate pudding) we sit down to watch the interviews. There are two couches, a love seat which my mom and dad sit on. Effie and Alex sit on both sides of me, on the other couch. I'm sitting close to Alex, our legs are slightly touching and it gives me shivers. I ignore the shivers and pay attention to the interviews.

Almost all the careers act all confidante and tough. I pay close attention when district 7 tributes come on. The girl, Alisa who is my age, 15 acts friendly but I still am wondering what her strengths are considering that she looks really strong. I'll have to wait until training to see, which starts tomorrow.

The boy Tommy doesn't look as beaten up but still looks scrawny. In his interview, I can tell he is very nervous and shy only saying a few words. The other tributes don't really standout to me.

When the interview are over my dad asks, "Do you guys have any ideas for possible allies?"

"District 7." I say before Alex had a chance to speak.

"Really?" Dad asks.

"Yah, the girl looks strong and I want to help the little boy, I feel bad for him."

"That boy won't last long, don't get too attached to him; the girl seems to be a good ally. It's alright to me if you team up with them." Mom says. I think the boy reminds her of rue, young and standing a slim chance of winning.

"I think district 7 allies will be good." Alex says.

"See dad, everyone else thinks it's a good idea." I say.

"Well it's your decisions." Dad says.

"Okay then its settled our allies will be us and district 7." I say with a small smile on my face.

"Alright why don't you two get some rest tomorrow is going to be a big, big day!" Effie says. Me and Alex get up and mumble good nights to everyone.

"Good night." I say to Alex with a sad smile. He notices the sadness in my smile.

"Why so sad?" He asks leaning against his door frame.

"It just- never mind." I say about walk into my room but he gently grabs my arm and turns me so I'm facing him.

"Seriously what's wrong?" He asks with concern in his voice.

"I don't want you to die." I mumble and he pulls me into a hug. It feels safer in his arms, I don't want him to ever let go just stay here right now where nothing can hurt me. Unfortunately that can't happen, in just 4 days I will be in the Hunger Games. Just the thought makes me scared, and I hug him tighter.

"I don't want either one of us to die." I say silent tears running down my face; one of us has to die to win. I don't want to die but I'drather have him live instead of me.

"Don't worry… I think the parents have a plan." He whispers into my ear. I already thought about that, but one of us, maybe even both could die before that happens or the plan might not even work.

"What if it doesn't work?" I ask sounding a little childish but I don't care. He pulls away and makes me look up at him.

"It will, trust me." He says. Wiping the tears out of my eyes, I haven't cried since I got here, I tried to act brave but I just can't help it anymore, sometimes you just have to let it all out. He kisses my fore head and says, "Good night, get some rest."

He walks back to his room.

"Good night, thank you." I say before he goes into his room.

"For what?" He asks.

"For everything." I say and turn around and go into my room.

**Sorry for the shortness but I think it ended nicely there! Review please!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Here is chapter 11 like I promised! I hope you like it I'm don't really like the training but I wanted to get this up so here it is! Review and tell me how you like the story so far and is something is bad please tell me so I can fix it! Thanks Enjoy!**

**Lora's POV**

I wake up to Effie banging on my door, "Wakeup today is the day the training starts!" She says excitedly.

I slowly lift my head to look at the clock on the night stand: 7:00. Training starts at 8:30. I sit up and stretch and climb out of bed, on top of the bureau clothes are sitting that I guess is for tracing, a capital servant must have put them there when I was sleeping. I grab them and take a quick shower, choosing the vanilla smelling shampoo, my favorite scent. I step on the mat which automatically dries me and my hair. Then I change into the training clothes, black spandex pants with a pink tank top and black spandex jacket with a pink stripe going down each arm. I was never a fan of spandex jogging suits but I like this one, especially since I think black and pink go well together and pink is my favorite color.

Then I put on a pair of sneakers that were on the floor near the bureau. I bet each tribute has a certain colored outfit, mine is pink and I don't think there will be any boys wearing pink.

I walk into the dining area to have breakfast. There is an enormous selection on the table: fruit, bacon, eggs, toast, some weird pastry things, bagels, yogurt, cereal, ham and a lot more. I sit down next to Alex and my mom and choose eggs, bacon and one of the weird pastry things because it looked so good.

"Alright so when you get into the training room don't do any weapons your good at, save those for the private session with the game makers and don't leave out the survival stations because those are just as important as weapons." Dad says.

"Go to survival stations before lunch and after lunch go to the weapon stations." Haymitch says.

"Okay got it." I say.

Once we finish eating Effie escorts me and Alex down to training while my parents and Haymitch stay on our floor.

When we get there it looks as if everyone is already there. Alex and I walk over to where all the tributes stand, in front of some trainer. The trainer starts explaining the rules once we get over to them.

"Alright so now that everyone is here, I will explain the simple rules of training. First, no hurting other tributes. Second, no leaving the training room until the bell rings at 12:00 signifying that it is lunch time. Lunch will be for 30 minutes, no longer. After the 30 minutes is up you are to come back to the training room. It is expected that you try out all the stations but it is not mandatory. Training ends at 4:00. Good luck."

As the trainer is saying this I glance at the other tributes, as I'm scanning the other tributes my eyes stop on another pair of green eyes; a career it seems. The boy is staring straight at me and if looks could kill then I'd be dead. I tense up and quickly turn away from the boy he has blond hair to go with the green eyes and looks quite strong, I think is name is Toby from district 2. I can still feel his eyes on me but I keep my eyes at the woman talking pretending I don't see him.

Me and Alex go over to the fire building station first since there was no one at it. After a half hour the trainer has taught us how to make a well enough fire and tells us to see if we can do it by ourselves while he walks over to a trainer at another station.

"Did you see that boy from 2?" I whisper to Alex. He looks up at me.

"No why?" He asks.

"He kept staring at me the whole time."

"Which one is he?" I scan the room and see him at a knife throwing station.

"By the knife throwing station." I say putting some sticks in our little fire we just made.

"I heard he's trouble, Toby that's his name." I look over at the station where now Alex is looking at, he is throwing knifes at a dummy; it hit its heart each and every time. He looks so arrogant I just want to start throwing knifes at the dummy just to show him off but I'm not that good with knifes so I'd just make a fool of myself.

"Look at him, so arrogant." I say as I roll my eyes.

"Yah just stay away from him." Alex says

"Was planning on doing just that." I say.

After we put out the fire we head over to other survival stations then the bell rings for lunch.

Me and Alex sit down together at an empty table and decide when we will ask district 7 to join our alliance. We decide that we will go up to them after lunch as they're training.

When lunch is over everyone heads back to the training room. Thankfully both district 7 tributes, Tommy and Alisa are together at an otherwise empty station. They are at the spear station.

The girl notices us walk over and smiles at us, see she is friendly I tell myself.

"Ahh the two rebel children." She says with a sarcastic tone.

"Yup that's us." I say picking up a spear, they are heavier than I thought; this is my first time using one.

"These are heavier than I thought." I say. Alisa laughs, "You'll get used to it. So you guys must have some weapons your good at? The bow I'm guessing Lora?"

"I'm decent." I say, I don't want to sound arrogant but I'm more than _decent _ at the bow, in fact I'm great I just don't want to sound all rude and arrogant.

"And what about you Hawthorne?"

"Knifes I guess." He says after thinking about it for a few seconds.

"The little one over here is good with all the survival stuff. Isn't that right Tommy?" Alisa says.

"Yes." Tommy says quietly by the look in his eyes he's frightened. He is 12 but reminds me of an 8 year old. After a few attempts at throwing spears I realize I'm no good, the spear always hits the dummy but never with enough force to pierce its skin. Alex on the other hand is pretty good got the heart a few times. Alisa is amazing; she always gets the dummies right in their hearts. Tommy tried to but the same happens to him as what happened to me.

"So do you guys want to join our alliance?" I ask. Alisa seems hesitant but surprisingly tommy speaks first. "Yes." He looks at Alisa for some kind of permission. "Alisa please." I guess he must like us, that's good!

"Alright." She says giving in. We spend the rest of the day training together as a group, we hit most of the spots except for the knives and archery we and Alisa seems to understand why we don't want to show our talents to everyone. Tommy slowly opens up to us as the day goes on, becoming less shy.

Every once in a while I see the career from district 2 looking at us. Pure hatred in his eyes, but I just pretend like I don't notice him staring and continue with my work.

When training ends we go back to our district floor to have dinner. We mostly talk about how our training went.

After dinner I the work from this afternoon hits me and I begin to feel really tired so I take a quick shower and go to sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

**If there is anything specific you want to see before the games start let me know! Next chapter will be the last day of training then the chapter after that will be the private training session and then the games will start on chapter 15! Yay the games are almost here! Enjoy and PM/review me your ideas!**

When I wake up I do the same routine as I did yesterday morning, put on my training outfit -still pink and black- and eat breakfast. When me and Alex get down to the training room we get straight to work, meeting our new district 7 allies at the shelter building station. While we learn how to make a proper shelter we learn more about Alisa and Tommy (who seems less quiet but still a little shy) turns out he is the youngest of 4 children, the only boy too and his mom died when he was 5 so his life is a little rough. Alisa on the other hand doesn't have it that hard, her dad is the mayor, but that didn't stop her name from getting drawn.

All goes well until we move to the snare/traps station when the boy from district 2 decides to stop by.

"You're doing it all wrong." He says as he grabs the snare I was working on. I just stare at him with that, 'oh he did not just do that' kind of stare.

"What do you want?" I ask trying to make my voice sound harsh.

"Just trying to get away from those losers." He says pointing over at the careers. Why would he call them losers? I thought they were in an alliance.

"So you decided to come over here?" Alex ask, he thinks something is up with this kid from 2 as well as I do.

"Yupp." He sates clearly and confidently.

"Whatever." Alisa mumbles and we continue to work on our snares and straps and pretend that the boy from 2 isn't here even though he consistently gets in our way. At one point he just gets on my nerves so bad I want to punch him, but of course I'll have to wait for the games.

"Do you mind?" I say trying to sound harsh like last time (But this time I actually sounded threatening, Oh yah Lora can be tough). He flinches since he was so close to me and I practically yelled in his ear.

"Some ones cranky." He says mockingly.

"Shut up." Alex says to the boy from 2 actually sounding threating.

"Let's go to another station." Alex says to the rest of us.

"Yah." Tommy says as we get up to go to another station.

"W-wait." The boy from 2 asks. "I'm sorry It's just I can't go back to them, let's start fresh." He says sounded somewhat genuine and extending his arm for me to shake. I shake it very hesitantly but say, "We'll give you one chance or you out and you don't want to get on my bad side." That's right I have a bad side, I'm all friendly and nice unless you get on that bad side of mine. Once I punched a kid for calling me ugly I got grounded but it was worth it because he never said anything bad to me after that.

"Okay, I'm toby." He says, I think he's 16 but I'm not sure.

"I'm Lora and this is Alex, Alisa, and Tommy." I say as he shakes each of their hands, this hand shaking seems too formal for this scenario but whatever. I still don't like Toby but at least he shows he can be nice or it's just an act.

"Can I join you alliance?" He asks.

"Yes." I hear from behind me, it's Alisa.

"What? No!" I hear from Alex.

They all look at me. I don't know what to say! For all I know this could be a trick of the careers.

"How do I know this isn't a trick?" I say.

"Because it's not! Look all the other careers are fine with killing people, I'm not! I know I'm supposed to be a tough-career killing machine but I'm not okay! I don't want to be with them and I wouldn't last a chance by myself." He seems to be telling the truth by the look in his eyes. I know Alex will hate me for my decision but Toby may be a big help, he's strong and 5 allies is better than 4 right?

"Fine, but if you do something I don't like then that's it." I'm trying to sound all threating but he just seems to look right past it.

"Okay, great!" He says and we head over to the edible food station again.

Throughout the whole rest of training Alex hasn't said a word to me, he's probably just mad that I let this career join our alliance but if he really didn't want to then why didn't he just say something?

When training is over me and Alex head over to our elevator, he still hasn't said anything to me and is giving me the cold-shoulder.

"Why are you giving me the cold shoulder?" I already know why I just want to ask him to get him to talk to me.

"Because you invited a career into our group!" He says in a tone that says, 'isn't it obvious'.

"Just because he is from a career district doesn't mean he's like the rest of them."

"It kind of does."

"No! What If you were from district 2? Would you be a killing machine or would you be trying to form an alliance with someone who doesn't like killing people for a hobby." He doesn't say anything back the rest of the ride up is in an awkward silence, which is only about 5 seconds. I guess his silence means I'm right.

When we get into the room my parents/Effie/Haymitch asks us how it went. We both mumble fine my mom, Effie and Haymitch seem to buy it but my dad knows when something is bothering me. I guess he decides to ignore it for now because all he says is that dinner will be ready soon.

I go back to my room to change into normal clothes, grey cotton shorts and a green t-shirt.

I go back into the dining room where everyone already sits. I grab the only available seat next to Alex, yay. Me and Alex both don't bother to join any conversations and I just pick at my food, I'm not really hungry.

"What did you do in training today?" My dad asks, oh here it goes.

"Well, Lora decided that it was okay for a career to join our alliance." Alex says, way to make it _all _my fault.

"What! Why would you do that?" My mom asks.

"Well everyone else thought it was a good idea and I thought he could be an assist to our alliance."

"Everyone as in two people and who made you in charge anyway?" Alex asks.

"Well you were all looking at me and I just stated my opinion!" I said somewhat yelling.

"Calm down, we will work this out." My dad says trying to calm down, Effie and Haymitch just sit there eating their food like its popcorn and we're the movie.

"The boy is good." Haymitch says. We all just stare at him. "I met him after the interviews, he asked what we were planning, and he said that he knew we were going to do something so I told him and he agreed to help, his dad is working right now as an undercover peacekeeper. He's on our side."

"What?" Alex asks dumbfounded.

"Just stick with him, trust me." Haymitch reapplies.

I give Alex a 'told you so' kind of look and he just looks down at his food then excuses himself from the table.

When he leaves the room my dad gives me a look.

I sigh and get up from the table. I knock on Alex's bedroom door, no answer so I peek in and he's not there. The roof top is the only other place I can think he'd be.

When I get to the roof I see him standing against the railing looking out towards the capital. I walk over to him and lean against the railing.

"I'm sorry." He says why is he sorry, I'm the one that has been acting rude and bossy.

"Why are you sorry, I'm the one who has been so rude and bossy to you."

"I'm sorry for not trusting your decision."

"So you're cool about it now?"

"Well if Haymitch thinks it's a good idea then I guess."

"Do you really think they are gonna get us out?" I ask.

"Maybe, I wasn't sure but after what Haymitch said I think so."

"Yah maybe, but why would Haymitch just say it out loud? Don't they have like recorders hidden in the walls and stuff?"

"I don't know. We should get some rest, don't want to be tired on our last day of training."

"Yah you're right." I say and we head back downstairs.

"Good night." I say with a soft smile.

"Good night, Lora." He says back and we both go into our own rooms.

**For the next chapter I have an idea! I have seen it in other stories already but I like the concept so my 'idea' will be the beginning of next chapter. Sorry it took me so long to update but I will try to update more I promise!**


	13. Chapter 13

**So sorry it took me almost a week to put this up, I have been very busy, and it was my brother's birthday so I've been busy helping my mom set it all up. And I've had my friends over so I couldn't write but here is chapter 13! There might be a lot of mistakes because I usually have my sister re-read it but I didn't today because I wanted to get it up fast! Oh and she is writing a story right now so go check it out, her username is ilovepeeta88. Her story is the same concept as mine, Katniss and Peeta's daughter in the hunger games. Just in case you forgot Alex and Lora are 15! That's just a reminder because whenever I read fan fictions I forget how old everyone is! Sorry for the long note! Review!**

_I look all around but I've come to the conclusion that I'm trapped. The trees keep growing around me and mean looking tribute closes in on me. He is from district 9, I don't know his name but he is getting closer. I reach in my belt for the stash of knives I have, using my bow and arrow from this distance would be unsuccessful as the tribute is a mere meter in front of me. The trees keep popping up from the ground closing me and the other tribute in. He raises his axe to take a swipe. It hits me. I hear a scream. I think it is coming from me but I'm pretty sure the axe killed me instantly as I have no feeling. I can hear though, but I cannot see. I hear more screaming, I stop hearing the screaming and instead here someone. They are calling me. Lora. Lora. I don't know who it is but it sounds familiar. _

My vision comes into focus and I can see a figure looming over me. Not just any figure, its Alex. He is shaking my shoulders. Like a speeding train the memories of my dream come back. I'm not dead! I'm alive! I put my hands on my head just to make sure. I'm suddenly very scared. I'm not dead but the whole nightmare is just overwhelming. Is that what's it like to be in the games? A nightmare that you can't wake up from?

I come back into reality where Alex has stopped shaking my shoulders and has now sat down next to me looking slightly puzzled but concerned. I just stare at him.

"Did you have a nightmare? You were screaming I'm surprised you didn't wake up anyone else."

"Yes. That was me. Me screaming?" I ask confused, I remembering hearing screams in my nightmare but I didn't know who they were coming from and if they were even real.

"Yes. Don't worry. Whatever it was it wasn't real." I say soothingly rubbing my arm. His touch just comforts me, makes me less frightened. He stops rubbing my arm when he realizes I'm not as frightened.

"Keep doing that. Please?" He lets a sad smile escape his lips.

"How long was I screaming?" I ask.

"Long." He says as he leans against the many pillows I have stacked near me.

"Do you have nightmares about it?"

"About the games? Yah all the time, every night it is some different way for me to suffer."

"The sad part is that our dreams will be nothing compared to the actual games."

"I know, these aren't normal nightmares, these are possible outcomes for our lives. _That's_ the scary part."

"I'm not ready to die." I mumble. He scotches down so he is facing me.

"Me either." He grabs my hands and we just lay there facing each other. Not much longer after I begin to drift asleep, I think he does too.

I wake up, the sun shining through the large windows on the left wall. Me and Alex's hands are still entwined. I stare at him. He looks so peaceful when he sleeps, not one concern on his face, just peace.

His eyes flutter open, he still looks peaceful, like the hunger games aren't in a few days. Like he has not a care in the world.

"Good morning beautiful." He says with a relaxed smile. It makes me all cozy inside and I can feel a blush begin to settle on my cheeks. I have been called pretty and things like that before (mostly by my dad) but hearing him say it makes it sound so much more meaningful.

"Good morning." I say, I can't help but smile back. His smile fades.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"I should leave before Effie finds me."

"That's a good idea." I say with a smile at the thought of Effie barging in finding us lying on the bed next to each other, she'd have a fit.

He untwines his hand from mine and gets up and walks over to the door. I just noticed that he is only in his checkered flannel pajama bottoms-no shirt. I smile again at the thought. He leans his head against the door to make sure no one is in the hall. He seems satisfied and opens the door quietly, then slowly shutting it behind him. Not 3 seconds after I hear the faint sound of his door shutting I hear Effie barge into my room.

I pretend to be asleep.

"Get up! Get up! Training starts in less than an hour!"

I sit up and fake and yawn.

"Hurry up now we don't want to be late for your last day of training!" She leaves the room and I get up. I skip the shower deciding that I'll take a super long one when I get back and put my training uniform on.

I walk down to the dining room.

"Good morning." I say cheerfully to everyone else.

They all say good morning back and we eat the rest of lunch having good conversations for once.

When we finish eating me and Alex get up and begin to make our way to the elevator. We hold hands until we get down to the training grounds where we let go. We both walk over to where our allies await, by the knife station.

Everyone is pretty decent at knife throwing except for Toby; it seems to be his primary weapon. And Alex who is really bad but I think he is just acting so no one sees how good he is, I mean like every time he throws the knife it ends up like 10 feet away. Pretty much he is so bad that I don't even think it's possible to be that bad at something. It's the same thing I do when we go to the archery station only I make it hit the body sometimes so I don't look like I'm faking.

I just ignore the knives flying around the room from Alex and concentrate on my own work. The rest of the day goes by well. By the time we get back to the hotel room I'm exhausted, today we hit up mostly weaponry stations so it drained a lot of my energy. I decide I'll skip dinner and grab something little in my hotel room this way I can lay done and eat because my muscles are sore.

When Effie says it's time for dinner I just tell them that I'm really tired and want to take a shower and go to bed, which is exactly what I do.

I take about a 45 minute shower then I find a button with some muscle relaxing cream and spend about 15 minutes rubbing on me. When I finally get out of the bathroom I go straight to the 'food vending machine' as I like to call it. I order some chicken wings and milk.

I gobble it all down then go to bed it feels good to lay done and not use my muscles. I fall asleep quickly in the comfort of the soft silk sheets.

**Please, Please, Please review, they make me write faster! I only had 1 review last chapter :( **


	14. Chapter 14

**I wont be able to update for about a week. I know I'm sorry! Well here is chapter 14, next chapter is the private training thing so see you all in about a week!**

I wake up about a minute before Effie knocks on my door. I guess I'm getting used to waking up at this time. She yells at me to get ready for my last day of training.

"Alright!" I yell back. I slowly move toward the dresser wear my training outfit is. It's black and green (Green is my favorite color, how did they know that? Lucky guess maybe.) I'm glad it's not pink like Lora's, I don't know what I would have done wearing a pink outfit but it looks really good on Lora. But then again so does just about everything she wears….

A few minutes later I walk out my door and walk into the dining room. Everyone is already there even Lora. I took longer than a girl to get dressed? Well then again I kind of started daydreaming… maybe that took up some time. Everyone says good morning to me as I sit down. Lora gives me her signature morning smile, half sleepy and half smiley. Her smile always makes me all happy. Sometimes it almost feels like we're not going in the hunger games in 2 days.

I feel my smile fade when I realize that we are going into the hunger games in 2 days, whether I like it or not.

The rest of the day goes as the days before, training and learning about our allies. I know I hated Toby when I first saw him, just by the looks he gave Lora but once you get past his rude side he is actually quite nice, but I'm not telling Lora that, I'll never hear the end of it.

Lunch went pretty well actually, we were all laughing and the other tributes were looking at us like we were crazy. Just like this morning I almost forgot that we are going into the hunger games a couple days and I almost forgot that I'm supposed to hate the kid from 2.

We go to the knife station at the end of the day. It really sucks because I have to pretend to be bad at it, that's what our mentors say to do. I wish I could just really throw the knife, it's a thrill every time I hit my target but of course I can't let everyone know my strong point so I'm stuck having to pretend to be real bad at it.

I know Lora is good at the bows and arrows because she told me once, but I didn't tell her what I'm good at but I think she already figured out that I was pretending to be bad at knifes.

When training is over I grab Lora right away and hurry up to our floor.

"What's the rush?" She asks in a giggly voice.

"I am starving!"

"Okay, okay me too." She says as we get in the elevator. I hold her hand when the door shuts.

"You never told me what your special weapon is?" She says it more as a question than a statement.

"I think you already know." I say.

"Yah I do, the knifes but I just wanted to see what you say." She smiles again, only her smile can melt my heart and make me forget every worry.

"I figured you knew anyway." I say.

"Sure you did." She says. The elevator door opens and everyone asks us how our day went and stuff like that.

"Good." We both say.

"Can we eat now?" I ask.

The adults laugh but I was serious, I was starving.

Effie says that we can eat in a few minutes and that we can sit down if we want. So I do, I sit down and everyone else follows.

A few minutes later the capital assistants bring out our meal. Today its lamb stew over rice and a bunch of sides. I take a giant bowl of the lamb stew and then like 3 different sides. Then I get seconds, and then thirds on the lamb stew it was just that good.

When it's time for dessert I'm already full so I try to eat a cookie because it looks so good but I only eat half before I feel like I'm going to explode.

"I think I'm going to go to bed now." I say. Lora gets up too and says, "Yah me too."

"Okay goodnight." Mrs. Mellark says and then everyone says their goodnights.

When I get to my room I take a fast shower and hop in bed. Its only 8:30 but I could use some rest. After 2 hours of staring at the clock I fall asleep only to wake up 2 hours later at 12:30. I try to fall back asleep for another hour but I just can't. When I was little and couldn't sleep my mom would give me milk and cookies, I would always fall asleep after that. So I decide to get up and eat milk and cookies.

I wanted to get up and walk around a bit so I went to the dining room to get food. I snuck into the kitchen that we aren't supposed to go in but everyone is asleep so no one can stop me.

I try to be as quiet as I can but the only light is coming from a small window high on the wall so I can't see much and I have never been in here so I don't know where the milk or cookies are. I can barely make out the fridge, I tip toe over to it and take out some milk then I walk over a few feet to some cabinets and start opening random ones until I find a glass or cookies. The third one I open has the glass cup but I still need my cookies so I try to find some sort of pantry.

I see the pantry and am working my way over when I trip on a big pot on the ground. I try to grab the counter to keep myself from falling but I only make more pots and pans that were on the counter fall. I crash to the floor with the pots and pans and they make a loud noise I hope I didn't wake anyone up. I get up and carefully make my way to the pantry. I grab the cookies and go into the dining room.

I am greeted with a tired looking Lora coming from the hall.

"Cookie?" I askas I hold up a cookie she ignores me and walks over to where I am now sitting.

"What was that sound?" She asks all sleepily.

"I tripped."

"On what?"

"Pots and pans."

"Oh." She sits down across from me and takes a cookie from the package.


	15. Chapter 15

**Okay sorry for the week wait! I was on vacation! Here is the private session with the game makers. And I'm pretty sure that the boy tributes go before the girl tributes but I'm making Lora go before Alex because it's easier point of view wise. Thank you to everyone who has ever reviewed, I love checking my email and seeing new review/favorites/followers! **

**An old character comes back… remember Jack? Lora's best friend? You know the one I completely forgot to even mention during Lora's journey in the capital? Well he is kind of in this chapter. So enjoy and review!**

**Lora's POV**

I wake up, last night I got a lot of rest, which is good because today is the private session- wait what!? Today is the private session!? When did that happen? I have been nervous about it all week, I always get nervous when people judge me, and now how they judge me may depend on my life or death!

I don't think I'll do too well today… I might just be shaking so bad that I can't hold a bow straight! Hopefully I already made a good impression at the interviews so I can get sponsors and my parents both won 2 games so the capital people will have some faith in me. Right?

Let's hope so.

I quickly change and head down to breakfast, the little butterflies in my stomach make me not so hungry. I just grab toast and slowly munch on it.

Everyone keeps giving me slightly worried looks, I know I'm supposed to be all brave and stuff like my parents but when people rate you on your skills it can be a little nerve racking.

"You okay?" My mom asks.

"Yup, I'm absolutely fine." I say sarcastically, my mom should know by now how I get when people judge me. In 3rd grade there was this talent show that my mom made me do. I didn't know that there would be a winner so I wasn't nervous at all because nobody could straight-out judge me with a rank or number. But right as the talent show started the announcer said that there would be a first, second, and third place winner I got scared and ended up not doing my little dance.

"Everyone already loves you from your interviews so don't worry." My dad says.

"Whatever." I mumble.

When we finish breakfast Haymitch insists we go down by ourselves even though Effie is just dying to escort us to the private session area, probably so that we look more independent I guess.

When we walk over to the elevator I try to calm myself down, I'm shaking pretty bad.

"You know your shaking a lot."

"I know." I point out flatly.

"I think somebody needs a hug." He says.

"I don't need a hug, I'm just nervous."

"You're nervous? Since when is the child of a Mellark nervous?"

"Since now."

"Right…" The elevator door opens, well gee, thanks Alex for making me feel better.

All the other tributes are already here. I spot Toby, Alisa and Tommy sitting around a coffee table and point them out to Alex. As we make our way over to them I can feel everyone starring at us since we are late, even though we are actually early.

"Nervous much?" Toby asks. I hadn't been paying to their conversation for the past five minutes; I hadn't noticed how much I was shaking.

"Leave her alone we are all nervous." Alisa says. I smile at her, us girls gotta stick together.

"Thanks Alisa."

"Anytime girl."

"I was just asking..." Toby replies.

"District 2 Male." A monotone voice calls.

"Ooop that's me." Toby says.

"Break a leg." I say.

"Good luck." Tommy says. He really is a sweet kid too bad he had bad enough luck to be put into these games.

"Thanks." Toby calls out as he walks to the door leading into the private session.

"I meant literally." I say, of course I'm joking around and everyone knows that, to me a little laugh cures just about anything even my nerves.

"Haha very funny." And with that Toby goes into the mysterious room where we will be judged.

The next few hours, yes hours it took each tribute nearly 30 minutes, role by with small talk. I'm not as nervous as I was this morning, I guess since everyone around me thought of it as no big deal it made be thing of it as not such a big deal either.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still nervous but only to the point where I have little butterflies in the pit of my stomach rather than the shaking.

Finally, after many more hours the last of the other tributes have gone and it is just me and Alex left. An awkward silence fills the air for about 10 minutes until my name is called. Uh-oh it's my turn. Why did the tribute before me only take 10 minutes, why couldn't they have taken an hour?

I feel my breathing become a little heavy. I don't know why I get so nervous doing things like this, I'm normally brave and outgoing, yet I feel like puking right now.

Alex pats my lap, "Deep breaths, deep breaths."

I do what he says and take deep breath, it helps a lot actually. That or the fact that he is trying to help me makes me calm down.

I get up take a deep breath.

"Good luck in there." He says.

"Thanks." I start walking to the door, it opens automatically and florescent lighting floods my vision.

It looks similar to the where we trained which is a good thing I guess. I go to the plant naming station first; it takes me under a minute to sort all the plants into categories of edible and poisonous. I get them all correct which makes me feel slightly relieved that I can at least do something right in here.

Next I head for the knives, nothing special but I'm decent enough to hit the heart 3/5 times. Next I go make a fire, I can tell they are getting bored with me which makes me a little nervous, but I tell myself that I have saved the best for last, the bows, I can see them all look at me out of the corner of my eyes as I grab a bow. Even the ones who weren't paying so close attention before, waiting to see if I'm just like my mom.

When I pull the arrow to my face I take a deep breath and I my surroundings change, I'm not in the cold, metal room anymore, but the forest. Jack is right next to me. Jack! I have been so busy wrapped up in these stupid games that I forgot about my best friend!

Wait... he isn't next to me side by side with his bow. No he is in front of me. Some tribute has him in a head lock; it's only me, jack and the other tribute. We are standing a top of the cornucopia, out of instinct I aim right for the tributes heart. Only since jack is in front of him I hit jacks heart instead! Have I just murdered my best friend!?

I feel a scream ready to make its way out of my throat only something happens, I'm back to where I was a minute ago, there is no trace of the bow I shot, almost like I started over. Out of confusion I quickly aim for the tributes temple instead. Big mistake, he falls off the cornucopia still holding jack.

I hear vicious mutts down below before I am transported back in time a few moments again. I realize that I'm playing a game now, no that I'm _in_ some sort of evil game; every time I fail I get to restart just like a video game. /the only video games I have ever played were at Jacks house and in each one if you failed you got 2 more tries. What if this is my last try to save Jack before game over? Then I realize something else, this is just like my parents games, I'm trying to remember how mom saved dad, but I can't it's as if that part of their games is blurred out of my memory. I do remember my dad tapping on Cato's hand though. I think I shut my eyes after that, not daring to see my mother kill somebody.

Wait that it! I just have to shot the tribute hand and he will release Jack. I aim for the hand and the other tribute lets go of jack and staggers backward, off the cornucopia.

I did it I saved Jack! Before I can even do anything I feel reality come back into place. I'm in the cold, metal room again and in front of me on the target I see 3 arrows, 1 in the heart, 1 in the forehead, and last but not least 1 in the hand.

I hope the judges- I mean game makers will appreciate my shooting. I just showed them different ways to kill with an arrow…

"And that is how you kill someone with an arrow in 3 different places." I say with a bow and walk out of the room, I feel good that I hit where I aimed for. I hope they all watched my parent's game so they know just how affective an arrow to the hand may be.

I'm escorted back my floor by some peace keepers. Everyone bombards me with questions but I just say that I'm tired and I end up falling asleep on the couch, while my parents talk Effie and Haymitch what they think I did and how good of a score I'll get.

**Sorry for any errors I didn't re-read this. Also you will never know what Alex did in his private session, well other than what he tells his mentors and Lora. REVIEW!**


	16. Author note

**Sorry everyone! I don't know when I'll be able to update. School starts in a week and I still have summer reading to be done! I also have a few others things I need to get down before school starts so that's my main priority. I will try to update soon but it takes me usually about 2 days to write a new chapter. First day I write it (not all day obviously) Then I re-read it the next day. So I'm so, so sorry about the long amount of time before the next chapter! I will defiantly try to crank out a chapter before next Tuesday, August 28****th****. **


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